Rumors of Windows Blue—Microsoft's push for a routine, yearly upgrade cycle—have been lurking in the shadows for a while now, and have been all but officially confirmed by some recent job postings. As we're getting closer to its inevitable roll-out, even more is coming to light. According to The Verge, it's coming as early as this summer, complete with Internet Explorer 11.

Initial reports from win8china have suggested a public preview for the new operating system upgrade could show as early as the next few months, and now sources are confirming to The Verge that Microsoft is "aggressively" shooting for a full release this summer with a preview in the works.

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Feature-wise, Blue is expected to include the next Internet Explorer browser, as well as significant updates from the Bing team intended to make devices and their associated apps more easily searchable. It's also said to include support for new 7 and 8-inch mobile form factors. And, of course, all this should come hand-in-hand with Blue for Windows 8 phones as well, in an attempt to pull the whole Windows ecosystem a little closer together, increasingly so with future updates. Looks like the brave, new, incremental world of Windows could be right around the corner. [win8china, The Verge]